Davenport University To Create New Downtown Lansing Campus

This artist's rendering shows the planned site of Davenport University's new downtown Lansing campus. The university will renovate the 55,000 square foot Grand View Center building. Classes are slated to begin in the fall of 2013.

Courtesy Davenport University

Davenport University is announcing plans to create a new campus in downtown Lansing. The private non-profit school will renovate a nine-story building on Grand Avenue.

Davenport University will remodel the 55,000 square foot Grand View Center building in Lansing to accommodate up to two thousand students. The new space will house a number of medical and IT programs and will include hi-tech classrooms and labs.

President Richard Pappas says the location is ideal for its plans to be part of a downtown educational corridor.

"It was by the Capitol, it's not too far from LCC (Lansing Community College), whom we view as a major partner and Cooley (Law School) whom we view as a major partner," Pappas says. "So, the fact that two (university) presidents are here with me indicates this cohesiveness of the three institutions."

The $10 million renovation is expected to be complete in about a year, with the first classes starting in the fall of 2013.